Roman shades are a well-known window covering in which a sheet of fabric having horizontal rear pleats or tabs is hung from a headrail. Lift cords run down the back of the fabric sheet through the rear tabs or pleats. Sometimes rings or clips are used to attach the lift cords to the tabs or pleats. The lower ends of the lift cords are attached to the fabric at a selected distance above the bottom edge of the fabric. Typically, there is a bottom bar across the lower edge of the fabric sheet. The fabric that extends below the connection points of the lift cords to the bottom bar is called the skirt. In most roman shades the distance between all adjacent pleats or tabs is the same. Frequently, that distance is four, five or six inches. Should the length of a window opening not be a multiple of the distance between tabs, a skirt of a different length is provided. For example, if a window is 54 inches high and the tab spacing is five inches, then a four inch skirt or a nine inch skirt would be provided. If the shade is being custom made the fabricator could make the spacing 5.4 inches. If several roman shades are being installed in one room having windows of different length then all shades are made with the same spacing between pleats and skirts are used as needed for some or all windows. One could make the spacing between pairs of adjacent tabs different. But, such different fabric lengths often cause the folds to jam and stack poorly.
Roman shades commonly have liners adjacent to the back side of the front panel. The liner may be attached to the same bottom bar as the face fabric or may have a separate bottom bar. When the roman shade is raised from a lowered position to a raised position a series of loops will be formed in the face fabric and the liner
FIG. 1 is a side view of one type of roman shade 1 which was available in the marketplace many years ago. That roman shade has a shade fabric or face fabric 2 extending from a headrail 3 and a liner 4 attached to the rear surface of the face fabric 2. Both the face fabric and the liner are attached to a common bottom bar 5. Lift cords 7 pass through ring or tabs 9 extending from the liner 4 and are also attached to the bottom bar 5. When the roman shade 1 is raised to any extent the lower portion 6 of the front sheet will face toward the window and be exposed to sunlight, indicated by arrows 8. Over time this exposed lower portion 6 of the face fabric 2 will become faded by the sun. When that occurs and the shade is fully lowered one standing in front of the shade will see a light faded region across the lower edge of the shade.
Another prior art roman shade 10 shown in FIG. 2 is similar to the shade in FIG. 1 but the lift cords 7 are attached to the tab 11 at the top of the skirt 12 rather than the bottom bar 5. The liner 4 should prevent fading of the skirt 12 which extends between tab 9a and bottom bar 5. In this roman shade 10 the skirt 12 extends below the first loop of fabric 11. Sometimes the skirt of a roman shade, whose length is determined by the size of the window, is shorter than the first loop of fabric 11, as in the roman shade 10a shown in FIG. 3. Fading of the front layer 2 can occur when the skirt is shorter than the first loop of fabric 11. One solution to that problem is to make the skirt longer as in roman shade 10b shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The longer skirt 12a would have a length equal to the short skirt 12 in FIG. 7 plus the distance between adjacent tabs 9. That length would be nine inches in the 54 inch shade example mentioned above. However, using a longer skirt 12a extends the length of the blind in the raised position shown in FIG. 5.
It is also known to put magnets along the edges of a liner or vapor barrier in window coverings including roman shades. In the prior art roman shade 10c shown in FIG. 6 magnets 14 are positioned along the edges of the liner 4. In the past the lift cords 7 have been positioned on the same side of the liner 4 as the magnets 14. The lift cords 7 are inboard of the line of magnets 4 that are located along opposite edges of the liner. When the lift cords 7 are pulled up as in FIG. 8, the magnets 14 tend to slide up the window frame rather than cleanly separate. This can be seen from a comparison of FIGS. 7 and 8. The sliding magnets may tend to jam as the liner moves upward. Because the lift cords 7 are spaced apart from the magnets 14 twisting or torsion can occur across the liner. Another problem than can occur results from the build up of moisture on those liners which act a moisture barrier. The moisture can accumulate causing the magnets to rust. The moisture can migrate to the face fabric causing wet spots and discoloration.